Clematis Armandaii Apple Blossom

Dano28 · February 2022

After some help please with my clematis, these are pictures from today, there seems to be a couple of new shoots appearing near the base but it dropped all of its leaves last year around autumn time. Which I did think odd as it’s evergreen. It was planted in 2020 and grew one stem from the base to around 2.5m in 2021, I’ve attached a pic from April 2021 of it looking healthier and with flowers. Now it looks like that stem has given up and it’s starting from the base again?

Where am I going wrong? Thanks Dan

Dano28 · February 2022

pansyface said:

The colour of the wooden post has changed. Have you painted it with wood preserver? Perhaps the chemicals have killed the roots of the clematis?

Hi, no it’s oak so it’s just taking on the silvery weathered look, the photo was also taken after it had rained.
Thanks

bertrand-mabel · February 2022

Our amandii does even though it is evergreen loose some leaves in the winter.

It is again in flower now having decidecd that a mearby magnolia is agreat place to climb up in to.

Your last photos show a really great plant. Is ii in the ground? From your photo it does look as though it it is planted in the ground.

it is still a young plant and hopefully you will give it a chance as it is such a fabulous winter evergreen plant.

Dano28 · February 2022

bertrand-mabel said:

Our amandii does even though it is evergreen loose some leaves in the winter.
It is again in flower now having decidecd that a mearby magnolia is agreat place to climb up in to.
Your last photos show a really great plant. Is ii in the ground? From your photo it does look as though it it is planted in the ground.
it is still a young plant and hopefully you will give it a chance as it is such a fabulous winter evergreen plant.

Thank you.

yes it’s planted in the border. There’s no sign of flowers at all on ours at the minute or any leaves just two new shoots at the base of the existing stem. It started to take off last April but now we’re back to nothing.

bertrand-mabel · February 2022

@Dano28 it is still a very young plant. Don't give up on it.

It took many years for ours to really come in and show what it can do.

We were able to take time and let the plant take its time. Hopefully you can give it time as well.

Dano28 · February 2022

bertrand-mabel said:

@Dano28 it is still a very young plant. Don't give up on it.
It took many years for ours to really come in and show what it can do.
We were able to take time and let the plant take its time. Hopefully you can give it time as well.

Thank you.

We’ll persevere and keep our fingers crossed, I was just concerned it didn’t look happy and wanted to act quickly if I need to to improve things. I’ll see how it goes this year.

Fairygirl · February 2022

Yes - it takes several years for any clematis to get to maturity. Ideally, you'd cut long single stems back in the early years, to encourage more stems to grow

It may seem counter productive, but it's the best way to get a bushier, more productive plant later on

Marlorena · February 2022

..what a mess ! I'm sorry to be blunt but you have allowed that evergreen hedge [Lonicera/ Cotoneaster?] to invade your clematis, it's completely overrun, along with other plants nearby, grasses?.. give your plant space..
..what you need to do is cut right back that hedge, like you had it in the last pictures.. get a spade and dig back the roots of that hedge away from the clematis, clear the whole around around the base, then apply a 2 inch compost mulch to the clematis...

..the tall stem is dead, the leaves are crumpled and the stem is black. It should be cut down to where it may still be green at the base.. effectively you will be starting again.. it should sprout from the roots with this much needed t.l.c..

..gardening is hard work, and one of the processes is to keep invasive plants from encroaching the roots of the more precious.. best of luck with that..

Dano28 · February 2022

Marlorena said:

..what a mess ! I'm sorry to be blunt but you have allowed that evergreen hedge [Lonicera/ Cotoneaster?] to invade your clematis, it's completely overrun, along with other plants nearby, grasses?.. give your plant space..
..what you need to do is cut right back that hedge, like you had it in the last pictures.. get a spade and dig back the roots of that hedge away from the clematis, clear the whole around around the base, then apply a 2 inch compost mulch to the clematis...

..the tall stem is dead, the leaves are crumpled and the stem is black. It should be cut down to where it may still be green at the base.. effectively you will be starting again.. it should sprout from the roots with this much needed t.l.c..

..gardening is hard work, and one of the processes is to keep invasive plants from encroaching the roots of the more precious.. best of luck with that..

Thank you.

I don’t mind bluntness, I’m happy to be told where I might be going wrong as that was the reason for the post, although saying that I do find your opening rude.

Being new to gardening I don’t know all the answers and don’t pretend too. I also enjoy the hard work of gardening, although it was hampered by an open fracture of my ankle midway through last year. And I may have unwittingly allowed the hedge to “invade”, without the knowledge that it would be doing so. Rather than born out of some laziness to not do anything once it’s planted.

I’ll take the constructive points from your post and give those a go and hopefully it can recover.

Fairygirl · February 2022

I wouldn't worry too much @Dano28. Other shrubs and planting around clematis isn't necessarily a problem, as long as the clematis has room to grow, and your conditions suit it. They like decent drainage too, as with most of the evergreen types, so having other planting around can be a benefit. You can always trim back those shrubs back if needed

I can see you've planted it a little bit away from the post, which is good, as the footings can sometimes interfere a bit. A bit of cutting back will help it though, and some regular mulching etc.

Take a look at some of the specialist sites if you're needed any info or help too
https://www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/
https://thorncroftclematis.co.uk/
https://www.hawthornes-nursery.co.uk/
Richard Hodson, of Hawthornes, post on the forum too, so if you have a specific query, he might see it and be able to help

I found, and bookmarked, a very good site a while ago, which had lots of info about clematis from the clem society, but I can't find it now. I'll see if I can locate it and add it here for you too.

I think it was this one
https://www.clematisinternational.com/

Dano28 · February 2022

Fairygirl said:

I wouldn't worry too much @Dano28. Other shrubs and planting around clematis isn't necessarily a problem, as long as the clematis has room to grow, and your conditions suit it. They like decent drainage too, as with most of the evergreen types, so having other planting around can be a benefit. You can always trim back those shrubs back if needed
I can see you've planted it a little bit away from the post, which is good, as the footings can sometimes interfere a bit. A bit of cutting back will help it though, and some regular mulching etc.

Take a look at some of the specialist sites if you're needed any info or help too
https://www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/
https://thorncroftclematis.co.uk/
https://www.hawthornes-nursery.co.uk/
Richard Hodson, of Hawthornes, post on the forum too, so if you have a specific query, he might see it and be able to help

I found, and bookmarked, a very good site a while ago, which had lots of info about clematis from the clem society, but I can't find it now. I'll see if I can locate it and add it here for you too.

I think it was this one
https://www.clematisinternational.com/

That’s brilliant thanks for all of the info!

Clematis Armandaii Apple Blossom

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